Coaches' Corner: Stony Brook's Jill Byers

To conclude our Midseason Report and kick off ILWomen’s Coaches’ Corner, Inside Lacrosse’s Halley Quillinan went around the horn with some of the top assistant coaches in the country to check in on where their respective teams were in the offseason, where they currently stand and — most importantly — where they’re headed in the coming weeks as conference play heats up and the NCAA Tournament kicks off in just over a month.

Stony Brook: Here To Stay

“We’re just hitting our conference play now and we’re peaking at the right time.” -Jill Byers

Where They Were: Stony Brook is coming off its winningest season in program history with an overall 17-3 record, including its first conference crown and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Rolling through its regular season, the Seawolves dropped only two contests before the postseason, both coming at the hands of nationally ranked opponents in Florida and Maryland. Through America East play, Stony Brook went undefeated with a 6-0 record and captured the conference tournament at season’s end before falling to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. A storybook season for senior standouts Demianne Cook and Claire Peterson, who both played for head coach Joe Spallina during his reign at DII powerhouse Adelphi, the Seawolves led the America East in scoring offense, points per game, scoring defense, save percentage, draw controls per game and ground balls per game as they finished the season ranked 10th in the Brine Media Poll — also a program high.

Heading into its 2014 campaign, Stony Brook had a number of question marks buzzing about it in the lacrosse community. Were they a one-hit wonder? Will they rebuild? How do they rebuild after losing so much talent? “We have 14 freshmen,” former Notre Dame All-American and Long Island native Jill Byers said. The new Stony Brook assistant coach paused for a bit, “Yes, 14. You heard correctly.” She laughed and continued, “But they really don’t play like freshmen. Honestly that transition from high school to college, you never know how kids are going to make that jump; but this group has done it, they’ve grown so much.” It’s been a handful of those rookies who have made all the difference for the Seawolves so far this spring as they’ve proven that the program is in the national hunt for a reason and, furthermore, that they are here to stay.

Where They Are & Where They’re Going: Currently sitting 7-2 on the season, Stony Brook finds itself in a very similar position to what it was in a year ago. With only two losses to its name, both coming at the hands of ranked opponents in No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 5 Florida, the Seawolves have steamrolled through the rest of its opponents and are outscoring its competition by a margin of 124-49. Perhaps most impressively, the Stony Brook defense has given up more than ten goals only once (vs. Florida) and boasts one of the strongest defenses in the nation. Led by All-American candidate Frankie Caridi, Stony Brook has the second best scoring defense in the country and is letting up an average of only 5.44 goals per game. “Our defense is so solid. Joe does such a great job with them, they’re technically sound and just tough kids,” Byers continued, “Honestly, most of our offense is created from our defense.”

Led by rookie standout Dorrien Van Dyke, who hails from the same high school Byers does on Long Island, in goals (32) and points (61), the Seawolves are well on their way to another successful America East showing. “She’s everywhere for us,” Byers said of the fellow-Northport grad. “She just wants the ball. For a freshmen, that’s pretty rare; but she’s fearless. She wants to win and above that she just wants to learn. She’s so coachable, she's like a sponge. You tell her something once and she just goes.” Heading into the remainder of their schedule, only one ranked opponent remains: Albany. No stranger to America East success, the Great Danes upended the Seawolves in 2012 to capture its second-consecutive conference crown. Likely a preview of the America East championship, April 12th will be a good barometer of where both teams are and where they’ll need to be should they clash again just a few weeks later; but until then, Byers tells her team to take it one game at a time. “I just try and tell them to go out there and have no regrets. Work hard because tomorrow isn't promised. These kids really buy into that.”

Overtime: Michelle Rubino “She’s a freak.” Jill Byers just about summed up Rubino’s athletic prowess with that one statement. The junior midfielder ranks second on the team in points with 33 (20G, 13A) and leads the Seawolf midfield unit with 18 ground balls, 13 draw controls and a team-high 13 caused turnovers. “She just does so much for us on the field. The little things that don’t necessarily show up in the box scores,” Byers spoke of the standout who has flourished under Spallina’s direction at SBU. “It’s not just the freshmen that look to her — everyone does. She gets our team going. We feed off her energy.”